University Study: Muscular, Wealthy Men are Most Attractive to Women

New research has revealed that women remain most attracted to wealthy, muscular men, demonstrating that long-established principles — either due to evolutionary characteristics or social roles — continue to be ingrained in modern society.

Researchers at Coventry and Aberystwyth Universities in the United Kingdom utilized the website TubeCrush as the basis of their study, whose aim was to evaluate the male archetypes that straight women and gay men found most attractive.

TubeCrush is a site that allows commuters to upload covertly taken photographs of presumably attractive men travelling on the London underground transit system. Visitors to the website then rate the men.

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StudyFinds reported that the researchers collected and analyzed data about the types of photographs of men posted on the site over a three year period beginning in 2014.

Despite the multicultural composition of London residents, there was little diversity in the men posted on the site, with most of them being white.

Those taking the photographs and posting them often focused on the parts of men’s bodies which suggest physical strength — such as muscular biceps, pecs, chest and legs.

Comments posted with the pictures often referenced the men’s musculature, and remarked on their assumed sexual prowess.

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The findings, which were published in “Feminist Media Studies” journal, showed those snapping photos and posting them were also captivated by indicators of wealth such as tailored suits, flashy watches and expensive phones.

Conversely, men depicted in photographs showing other representations of masculinity, such as fathers, or males who seemed more sensitive or awkward, fared worse in ratings.

Lead researcher Adrienne Evans, from Coventry University’s Centre for Postdigital Cultures, said “From smart-suited City workers to toned gym-goers flashing their flesh, the men featured in the photographs on TubeCrush show that as a culture we still celebrate masculinity in the form of money and muscle.”

“They are marking the middle-class, wealthy, mobile and sexually powerful male body, not as a political one as feminists intend it to be, but one that should be actively desired,” Evans said.

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Evans noted that despite “this celebration of masculine capital” being “achieved through humor and the knowing wink, but the outcome is a reaffirmation of men’s position in society.”

This was deemed a problem by Evans due to the fact that “it appears as though we have moved forward,” but “our desires are still mostly about money and strength.”

Even so, a reversal in traditional gender roles was noted by the researchers.

Developed by American psychologist Alice Eagly, “social role theory” argues that male and female social decisions are dictated by societal norms — what we are told to find attractive or desirable — rather than evolutionary and biological processes.

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Psychology Today noted that this theory is directly opposed by “evolutionary theory,” which asserts that attraction results from a desire to pursue individuals who possess qualities that reflect an increased chance of survival and reproduction.

While it is not known with certainty the cause of the results, the researchers suggest that “value is directed onto the bodies of particular men, creating a visual economy of post-feminist masculinity of whiteness, physical strength, and economic wealth,” according to the researchers.